The Bat

The First Inspector Harry Hole Novel

By: Jo Nesbø, Don Bartlett

Narrated by: Joh Lee

Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • In the electrifying first installment of the New York Times bestselling series, Harry Hole of the Oslo Crime Squad is dispatched to Sydney to observe a murder case. As he circles closer to the killer, Harry begins to fear that no one is safe, least of all those investigating the murder.

The victim is a twenty-three year old Norwegian woman who is a minor celebrity back home. Harry is free to offer assistance, but he has firm instructions to stay out of trouble. Never one to sit on the sidelines, Harry befriends one of the lead detectives, and one of the witnesses, as he is drawn deeper into the case. Together, they discover that this is only the latest in a string of unsolved murders, and the pattern points toward a psychopath working his way across the country.

Don't miss Jo Nesbo's latest Harry Hole thriller, Killing Moon!

©2013 Jo Nesbø (P)2013 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Even with this first book Nesbø’s command of the idiom is completely in place—there is absolutely no sense that the writer was finding his feet and aficionados will be very pleased to slide this on to their bookshelves alongside the other Harry Hole novels.” (The Daily Express)

"This debut effort shows Nesbø as an already confident genre craftsman, striking sparks from the familiar genre material of Harry’s fish-out-of-water experience in a foreign land and odd-couple pairing with a mismatched partner." (Publishers Weekly)

“It is fantastic to see a younger Harry, a more loquacious Harry. . . . [Nesbø is] a terrific writer who knows how to build a story, taking you slowly to the top of a rollercoaster before sending you hurtling towards a solution that you never see coming.” (Scottish Express)

This series start is rather low key

What did you like best about The Bat? What did you like least?

I liked the unique characters (and their names) in this novel. It's not often when you have an Aborigine detective named Andrew Kensington as the co-lead of a murder investigation in Australia. The plot turns seemed to make no sense. They did little to add to the story. There was such a slow build up to the story that I expected more of a climax but nothing. I was a bit let down.

What was most disappointing about Jo Nesbø’s story?

The revelation of who the real murderer was. It seemed a bit convenient.

What does John Lee bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Not much. Some of the characters sounded like they were from Transylvania rather than Australia.

Did The Bat inspire you to do anything?

No, I hate to say.

Any additional comments?

I read Jo Nesbo most recent novel, The Snowman, and I was inspired to start from the beginning. The Bat was a bad foreshadowing of The Snowman. Same plot twist, same story.

Not his best

Maybe it’s because it’s his first, but I’ve read other Jo Nesbo books that were more exciting and intriguing from the beginning. I was, however, surprised to find who the killer was.

I really wanted to like this

There were a lot of tangents that had no relation to the story. Sooo many words...

Just meh

My first Harry Hole book was The Snowman. I didn't realize it was part of a series. So I came into this one hoping to get some backstory to Harry along with a good murder mystery. Maybe the fact that the murderer from this book was mentioned multiple times in The Snowman took some of the suspense out of the whole "who dun it". But I still felt like the story just fell flat. There were so many Aboriginal folk stories tossed in... for no discernible reason. They were interesting for sure, but they felt like filler because they really didn't seem to connect to the greater mystery. I'll probably continue with another Harry Hole book to see if this was just a one-off bummer... because The Snowman was SO good.

Well Written, Just Not My Cup Of Tea

It's not a bad book, just not my kind of story.

What I liked: I liked the writing style. He doesn't waste words and is to the point. I also liked grittiness, viewpoints, and for lack of a better word, the morality issues presented by the author in this book. The story has a much more realistic feel to the characters' personalities to it than other stories . Nesbo writes good characters. Finally, I found the insight into Aboriginal relations in Australia interesting. I wonder if it was an accurate depiction.

What I didn't like: Despite Nesbo's skills, I did not like how character-centric the story was. The crime part was completely lost at times. I wish the story was more balanced. Also, as realistic I thought the characters' personalities and feelings were, the crime part of the story felt unrealistic at various points.

The narrator was good.

-NOTE: I take the ratings literally: "Love it", "It's Great", "Pretty Good", "It's OK", and "Not for me". So even books I like may get a three or four star rating.-

The Bat

Some parts of the book was dry but it started picking up overall a good book. I wanted to see The Snowman but now that I know it's a book I'm interested in all parts of the series.

So much goes on in Harry Hole’s first tale.

I have always enjoyed the murder mysteries that have come out of Scandinavia like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series and Henning Mankell’s novels. So I’ve been wanting to read Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole books when I needed a break from my usual diet of non-fiction.

This one was fun since it’s the first of a long series following his Norwegian detective’s quests. Nesbo has to introduce his character and seed the mystery with lots of backstory. Additionally, Harry Hole is in Australia so there is lots of cultural awkwardness and Aboriginal storytelling thrown in.

All in all it’s a good introduction to the series though a little clunky sometimes as Nesbo tries to get it all in while trying to solve a murder. Still worth the time spent. I intend to pursue the series.

Unpredictable but a little drawn out.

I really like the side characters and the development of the story was wonderful. the main character was a little more flawed than I'm used to and I'm not emotionally invested in him yet. When the ending seemed to come, it was drawn out to what felt like almost half the book. That was a little bit frustrating. But I liked it enough to at least read the next book in the series.

Good starter novel of Harry Hole...

The narrator made this book! Excellent accents...loved him! The book would have been 5 stars but just dragged on and on and on. It could have easily ended a couple of times. That said, it is still worthy of 4 stars. I will definitely buy the next one in the series!

Great Accents

the story moved along with some really interesting parables on Aboriginal origin myths, good humor (balancing nicely but not overshadowing the darkness of the story), and the accents were not overdone. I don't think I'd be able to hear a good Aussie accent in my head if I had read it out of a book, so that was a nice plus.

will read more by Jo Nesbo